Chicago Blackhawks' Patrick Kane, foreground, celebrates his goal during the first period against the Los Angeles Kings. The Blackhawks won 5-2. (Associated Press)
LOS ANGELES — Marian Hossa had two goals and an assist, Corey Crawford made 19 saves, and the Chicago Blackhawks crashed the Kings’ Stanley Cup championship celebration with a 5-2 victory over Los Angeles on Saturday.
Captain Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane each had a goal and an assist for the Blackhawks, who jumped to a 3-0 lead on Michael Frolik’s goal less than 15 minutes in. With superior speed and skill, Chicago ruined the party shortly after the Kings raised their first championship banner to the Staples Center rafters.
Rob Scuderi and Jordan Nolan scored and Jonathan Quick stopped 17 shots for the Kings, who returned every player from the first eighth-seeded playoff team to win the Stanley Cup.
Quick gave up five goals just once last season while making his first All-Star team, but he wasn’t much better than his teammates in his first game since winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as the NHL’s playoff MVP and getting a 10-year, $58 million contract extension. And in the first 22 minutes, the Kings gave up more goals than they yielded in any playoff game during their 16-4 run through the postseason.
Penguins 3, Flyers 1
PHILADELPHIA — Tyler Kennedy and James Neal both scored goals to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins past the Philadelphia Flyers.
Claude Giroux scored for the Flyers in the first game for both teams since the end of the 113-day NHL lockout.
Chris Kunitz added an empty-netter in the final seconds for the Penguins.
Flyers fans were in playoff form, starting with the booming, derogatory chants at Sidney Crosby from the moment the Penguins captain took the ice. Crosby was held without a point in the opener, but just seeing a healthy No. 87 on the ice gives the Penguins hope big things are ahead this season.
Senators 4, Jets 1
WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Erik Karlsson had a goal and two assists and the Ottawa Senators spoiled the Winnipeg Jets’ home opener.
Milan Michalek, Kyle Turris and Chris Neil, with the game-winner in the second period, scored Ottawa’s other goals. Dustin Byfuglien scored for the Jets.
Craig Anderson stopped 27 of the 28 shots he faced for the Senators, while Winnipeg goalie Ondrej Pavelec faced 37 shots.
Devils 2, Islanders 1
UNIONDALE, N.Y. — David Clarkson’s goal at 8:17 of the third period sent the New Jersey Devils to a 2-1 season-opening win over the New York Islanders on Saturday.
Travis Zajac also scored for New Jersey. Martin Brodeur stopped 18 shots to increase his NHL wins record to 657.
Travis Hamonic had New York’s goal, a power-play score at 7:12 of the third. Evgeni Nabokov made 26 saves for the Islanders.
Islanders coach Jack Capuano missed game “due to medical reasons.”
The effects of the 119-day lockout and compacted training camp were evident in the season opener for both teams.
Emotion was decidedly lacking save for two brief instances, and passes and shots were not as crisp as they would be at the same point in an 82-game season.
Bruins 3, Rangers 1
Tuukka Rask stopped 20 shots for Boston in his first game after taking over for two-time Vezina Trophy winner Tim Thomas, and the Bruins beat the New York Rangers 3-1 in the lockout-delayed season opener on Saturday night.
Milan Lucic and Daniel Paille scored for Boston, which won the Northeast Division last year before losing in the first round of the playoffs. Rask backed up Thomas during the Bruins’ 2011 Stanley Cup run and inherited the job when the enigmatic goalie decided to take a year off to rest.
Brad Richards scored for the Rangers on an assist from Rick Nash, the former Columbus star who was New York’s biggest acquisition over the summer. Henrik Lundqvist made 31 saves for the Rangers, who finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference last season but lost in the conference finals to the New Jersey Devils.
Lightning 6, Capitals 3
TAMPA, Fla. — Martin St. Louis and Eric Brewer each scored two goals as the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Washington Capitals 6-3 in the season opener for both teams Saturday night.
St. Louis added an assist, while Vincent Lecavalier and Cory Conacher also scored goals for the Lightning.
Joel Ward scored twice and Wojtek Wolski also had a goal for the Capitals, who lost in Adam Oates’ NHL coaching debut.
St. Louis’ drive from above the left circle during a 5-on-3 power play gave Tampa Bay a 4-3 advantage at 4:47 of the third. Conacher, who had an assist in first NHL game, scored his first goal to extend the lead to 5-3 with 6:36 to go. Brewer scored his second goal late in the third.
Maple Leafs 2, Canadiens 1
MONTREAL — Nazem Kadri and Tyler Bozak scored power-play goals as the Toronto Maple Leafs opened the lockout-shortened NHL season with a 2-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.
The Maple Leafs went 2 for 5 with the man-advantage and held Montreal to 1 for 5 on Brian Gionta’s goal — and that was the difference in a sloppily played game by both clubs.
Michael Kostka, playing his first NHL game at 27 years old, earned an assist on Kadri’s goal and was second only to fellow defenseman Dion Phaneuf in ice time for the Maple Leafs in a strong debut performance.
The Leafs outshot the Canadiens 26-22.
Panthers 5, Hurricanes 1
SUNRISE, Fla. — Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and two assists in his NHL debut, Brian Campbell scored twice in a first-period frenzy and the Florida Panthers opened defense of their Southeast Division title with a 5-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night.
Alex Kovalev also had a goal and two assists in his first game with Florida.
Jose Theodore made 41 saves for the Panthers, who led 4-0 after the first 20 minutes for their highest-scoring period since Dec. 17, 2010.
Scottie Upshall also scored for Florida.
Patrick Dwyer had the lone goal for Carolina, which was down 5-0 early in the second. Starting goaltender Cam Ward was pulled following the first period, after stopping just eight of the 12 shots he faced.
Stars 4, Coyotes 3
DALLAS — Jaromir Jagr scored two goals and assisted on the game-winner in his Dallas debut, and the Stars opened the shortened season with a 4-3 victory against the Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday night.
Jagr, the NHL’s active leader in goals, assists and points, had a hand in all four goals for Dallas. Ray Whitney, Phoenix’s leading scorer last season, scored a goal in the first game against his former team.
Loui Eriksson broke a 3-all tie when he took a pass from Jagr in the slot and beat Mike Smith. The sequence started with a turnover by Phoenix’s Martin Hanzal, and Jagr grabbed the rebound in the corner after a hard shot by Derek Roy.
Radim Vrbata scored twice for the Coyotes, who went to the Western Conference finals last year after the franchise had never won more than one playoff series in a history dating to 1979 in Winnipeg.
Blue Jackets 3, Predators 2 (SO)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Derick Brassard scored in the sixth round of a shootout, and the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Nashville Predators 3-2 Saturday night for their fifth win to start a season and a very rare win over their Central Division foe.
Columbus had not won an opener since Oct. 3, 2009, against Minnesota, and the Blue Jackets had won only once in Nashville in the previous 20 games.
They needed overtime to do that 4-3 on Nov. 19, 2011.
Artem Anisimov, acquired in the trade that sent Rick Nash to the Rangers, scored on a backhand over Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne in the second round of the shootout.
David Legwand scored on a backhand in the third round to tie it up and extend the shootout. That was it before Brassard scored.
Colin Wilson had a chance to tie it up, but missed off the post.
Blues 6, Red Wings 0
ST. LOUIS — Rookie Vladimir Tarasenko scored twice in his NHL debut and Chris Stewart also had a pair of goals to help the St. Louis Blues manhandle the Detroit Red Wings 6-0 in their season opener Saturday night.
Coach Ken Hitchcock, general manager Doug Armstrong and goalies Jaroslav Halak and Brian Elliott posed at center ice with postseason trophies earned from last season’s Central Division championship team shortly before the opening faceoff. A standing room crowd of 20,035 roared throughout the opener.
There was a moment of silence in tribute to Hall of Fame baseball player Stan Musial before the third period.
The 21-year-old Tarasenko, a first-round draft pick in 2010, got the scoring started with some nifty puck handling on a breakaway at 6:36 of the first period. He made it 3-0 in the second period with a power-play goal, becoming the 14th player in franchise history to get a pair of goals in his first game.
Halak had to stop just 14 shots by the anemic Red Wings for the shutout. Halak and Brian Elliott combined for a league-leading 15 shutouts last season, sharing the Jennings Trophy.
Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard was pulled after Stewart’s power-play goal at 1:15 of the third.
Wild 4, Avalanche 2
Dany Heatley had two power-play goals on assists from new teammate Zach Parise, and the offense-enhanced Minnesota Wild surged into their much-anticipated season with a 4-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday.
Mikael Granlund also scored for the Wild in his first NHL appearance, and Pierre-Marc Bouchard had a late goal in his first game in more than a year to help make the amped-up crowd of 19,298 forget all about the 119-day lockout that delayed the opener by 31/2 months.
John Mitchell scored early in his debut for the Avalanche and Cody McLeod cut the lead to one with 14:51 remaining in the game, but they were done in during a penalty-ridden second period that had goalie Semyon Varmalov on his heels.
Ducks 7, Canucks 3
VANCOUVER, B.C. —Teemu Selanne had two goals and two assists Saturday to help make Cory Schneider’s first NHL season-opening start a short one and the Anaheim Ducks thumped the Vancouver Canucks 7-3.
Daniel Winnik added two goals for the Ducks while Sheldon Souray, Corey Perry and Kyle Palmieri also scored.
Schneider was pulled from the Vancouver net after allowing goals to Perry and Palmieri just 11 seconds apart early in the second period that capped a trio of Anaheim goals about three minutes apart.
Winnik started the scoring spree with his second goal of the game.
Schneider, who signed a three-year, $12 million contract last summer, allowed five goals on 14 shots.
Roberto Luongo, who was expected to be traded after he was replaced as Vancouver’s starter in last spring’s playoffs, stopped 10 of 12 shots in relief.
Dan Hamhuis, Daniel Sedin and Alex Edler scored for Vancouver.
Jonus Hiller made 26 saves to get the win for the Ducks
